The Two Falcons
by dawnofdorne
Summary: What if Jon Arryn had more children? Would the brothers live up to the Arryn words or do they go down a darker path? AU, slight chronological divergence.
1. Chapter 1

The old Maester shuffled, his chain rattling, into the dark room and lit the candles next to the desk. He puffed and sat down. He had spent years in the Vale, conducting research for his newest book. He had spoken with several people and heard a thousand tales and songs. But eventually he had concluded that the Falconknight and his brother had been remarkable people. And it had long been overdue for this tome to be written for they had passed from the realms some 20 years ago. He knew not how long it would take to finish it but he hoped he would finish it before he too joined them. He skipped a few pages of his introduction and began at the point he reached yesterday.

 _Artys Arryn, born in 282 AC, conceived during the wedding night of Lord Jon Arryn and Lady Lysa Arryn neé Tully, Born blond of hair and blue of eyes. Fostered by and squire for Lord Yohn Royce of Runestone. Knighted at age 15 for services rendered by defeating a horde of Clansmen while being outnumbered._

 _Arstan Arryn, born in 283 AC, Son of Lord Jon Arryn and Lady Lysa Arryn neé Tully, Born blond of hair and blue of eyes, a sickly babe but recovered remarkably, Fostered by and is squired for Lord Marwyn Belmore. Knighted at age 16 by his brother._

 _Not much is known of their early lives, but it is a well-known fact that Artys has had a major hand in the secret rebuilding of the Arryn and Sistermen fleet. Despite spending much of their early lives away from each other both brothers kept in contact with each other and spent hours talking when travelling to visit family in the Riverlands and the North. During his time Lord Jon also managed to acquire a Valyrian steel sword from a Caggo of the windblown, this valyrian steel sword was reforged into Talon which he passed on to his eldest son._

 _Lord Artys Arryn grew up a true Arryn with short blonde hair, icy blue eyes, which according to Maester Tarly is a rare trait for Arryn and broad shoulders. He was a more reserved character but also known for his famous rages, his brother on the other side was much more wild._

 _Growing up in the Belmore mountains is to this day still daunting because of the Clansmen of mountains of the moon. Because of this Arstan had to grow up a lot quicker but still he had this almost childlike side, this sometimes even erratic behaviour wasn't helped due to the fact the he was rather large for his age and well-muscled as well due to lord Belmore's rigorous training._

 _I have however been able to recover some texts which detail a journey throughout the entire Vale, the reason behind is still unknown but it is believed this was done to extract oaths of fealty from the Vale lords. It all points to one fact and that is that Artys knew his father wasn't long for this world. Which ofcourse everybody knew at the time because Lord Jon was already an elderly man._

 _After Artys was released from the care of Lord Royce he travelled to Highgarden where he had been invited to participate during the great Reach Tournament of 298 AC._

The crowd cheered as Artys Arryn, heir to the Vale, defeated Ser Loras Tyrell in the touney of Highgarden. "The winner of this round is, Ser Artys Arryn!" The announcer shouted, Lord Mace Tyrell shifting in his chair as his youngest son was defeated his own tourney.

"Congratulations, Ser Artys." Margaery Tyrell, cheered on Artys.

"Thank you, Lady Margaery." Ser Artys responded, adressing her while walking back to his tent.

"Aren't you supposed to cheer for your brother, my lady?" Artys asked Margaery.

"Any man that can beat my brother in a tournament is to be cheered for, for it's not an easy feat to accomplish." Margaery chimed.

"Alas my lady, I hope you're not dissapointed I got him out of the tourney?" He responded jokingly.

"Of course I'm not dissapointed, it's good to see some other family win in a tournament for once. Both Garlan and Loras are amazing knights, who both won their fair amount of fights." Margaery laughed, too which Artys responded, "Well, I'm willing to prove to you that I can beat them in this Tournament, or so I hope, it's no secret Garlan is one of the best knights in the realm."

Margaery smirked, not sure how to respond to the praise given to her brother. "Lady Margaery." William Barrows addressed her, walking into Artys' tent. "Excuse me Artys, but I must speak with you." Bowing to Margaery. "I shall see you in the next round, Artys." She said before excusing herself, leaving just Artys en William in the tent.

"I see you put the tips I gave you to good use." William spoke up. "Yes, they have been very useful, I think I wouldn't have won without them." He said, praising William a bit. "Well, on a different note, you said something about an offer for me and my companions." Artys seemed surprised, for William was known for not going into the service of lords, having turned down a whole lot of them. "Yes, I offered you to come into my service to train more of your so called Barrowknights for the Vale, since we lack medium cavalary." Artys walked over to a few chairs he had in his tent, motioning for William to sit down. "If you are inquiring after it, does it mean you'll take it?" William grinned while nodding. "That's great." Artys responded, as William stood up. "There's going to be a bout between Ser Garlan and Lord Balon Swann that I need to see."

As Artys followed him out he spoke up one last time. "Well, as far as I know, it's going to be one hell of final, one I probably won't be able to win." On that note they split up, both going their own way, William to watch the semifinals, Artys to train for the finals.

 _Several hours later_

"Ser Artys, what are you still doing up at this hour of the day?" William asked, strolling into the training yard. "I was training, until my opponent went to warm his lance if you get what I mean." William sat down next to Artys, who was sitting on a bench. "Are you ready for tomorrow" William asked, Artys nodding his head, knowing he couldn't win against Garlan Tyrell, who won the semifinals against Balon Swann. "I'm sure I cannot win against Ser Garlan. Neither I could I've won against Ser Balon, but I refuse to go out without a bang." William raised his eyebrow, wanting to see what Artys had in mind for the finals. "Well, I'm sure you will manage." Artys laughed, "Yeah I'm sure I will too." And with that conversation Artys and William seperated ways again, both going to their respective tents.

Riding into the arena Artys was greeted by cheering from the crowd, ready to see him ride against Ser Garlan, who arrived just a minute before him

"Let the battle commence!"Lord Mace Tyrell announced from the booth he was sitting in.

Both Garlan and Artys started charging at eachother, lances pointed towards one another. The moment they clashed, their lances broke apart, the rides remaining stoic, riding towards the end of the grounds, getting another lance ready. They both turned around, ready to charge at eachother. The horses readied, same as the lancers, and charged, hitting eachother square in the shield again, the lance breaking. Cheering erupted from the crowd at the second hit, as another lance was readied. "How long will this go on?" Ser Garlan taunted. "I don't know, we will just have to see how fast you go down." Artys taunted back, and they both charged again, this hit bringing a crack in Ser Garlan's shield. "A fine hit I must say." Ser Balon cheered, getting a glance from Mace Tyrell, who was sitting a few seats in front of him. They clashed again, shattering Artys' shield, and cracking Garlan's shield a bit further.

The crowd gasped as Artys fumbled with his new shield, while also grabbing another lance, the 4th one of the fight. Ser Garlan charged first, Artys following soon after, breaking another lance, but also Garlan's shield. As he now also readied another shield Artys taunted "5th lance of the finals, soon we're going to run out of lances." Once Garlan was ready, they clashed, and other time, and other time, untill they reached the 9th lance, then they clashed, but this time, Artys fell down.

"I'm proud to announce, Ser Garlan Tyrell, winner of the Tourney of Highgarden." Garlan dismounted, going up to help Artys up from the ground. "Thanks Garlan." Artys said as he dusted himself off. "It's no problem Artys. You fought valiantly." Garlan said, as gallant as ever. "One problem though, they're gonna need new lances, I'm surprised they haven't ran out yet." Artys joked, while following Garlan infront of the booth of Lord Tyrell.

"Ser Artys, you fought valiantly and bravely, but you just didn't make it in the finals." Lord Tyrell spoke up. "Ser Garlan, you managed to beat Ser Artys, and for that, I of course congratulate you." Garlan bowed to his father, as Artys walked out of the arena, going to his tent to prepare for a ride to King's Landing, where his father wanted to see him as he has a gift for him.

But as he was packing his belongings, Ser Garlan walked into the tent, as Ser Robar Royce kept guard outside the tent. "Ser Artys, may I request something of you?" Garlan asked, while sitting down in one of the chairs. "Tomorrow is the special duo melee, care to team up with me?" Artys pondered at the request, while Garlan continued, "I'm sure you and I can achieve a great victory against the many competitors."

Bryen Hunter entered the tent. "I will compete with you Ser Garlan, but as you see, my friend here, needs to tend to me." And with that Garlan exited the tent, as Ser Robar still stood guard. As he took off his chestplate, Maergary Tyrell walked to the tent, requesting an audience. Ser Robar denied Lady Maergary entrance, as he was commanded. Artys soon noticed Margaery requesting entrance, and he allowed her, since he didn't see a reason not to. "Lady Margaery." Artys greeted her with a nod. Lady Margaery bowed down for Arstan however.

"Wow, I did not expect you to be this muscular, Ser Artys." Margaery said, in amazement. "Thanks, My Lady." Artys responded, while flexing his muscles every so slighty. "I saw Ser Garlan coming in here." Margaery said, "Was it about the duo tournament?" She asked. "Yes my lady, we're participating together in the melee." Artys responded, Bryen walking in between them to grab something from his medkit. "I'm sure the two of you will win." Margaery responded slyly. "You two shouldn't be allowed to team up, there's no matchup that will beat the two of you." Maester Bryden gesturing Artys to turn around, he noticed how Margaery checked out his ass. "Well, any other great warriors would beat us, maybe even my brother would beat us two single-handed." Artys responded, praising his brother a little. "Ah yes, the brother with the infamously massive sword." Margaery answered, making Artys raise an eyebrow at how she knew of his brother. Bryen walked inbetween the two again, having finished patching Artys up. "I'll come back later, Artys I got some bets to place." Bryen said smiling, before walking out of the tent, leaving Margaery and Artys alone. "There's a feast this evening, care to come with me?" Lady Margaery insisted. "Ofcourse, My Lady, how could I deny a request from a beautiful lady like you?" Artys responded, the flirty tone very noticable in his voice. "I will see you seen then, Ser Artys." Margaery said while walking out of the tent.

"Ah, Ser Artys I was wondering when you would show up." Lady Margaery announced at the doors to the great hall, waiting for Artys.

"I did promise you I would be here." Artys responded slyly, offering his arm to Margaery in the meantime.

They conversed while walking towards the table next to Lord Mace Tyrell, Artys being seated next to Margaery, instead of Loras, who seemed disheveled that he didn't get to sit next to his sister. "I was afraid you might not show up." Margaery whispered to Artys, while waiting for most of the other guest to arrive. "As I said before, how could I refuse a request from such a lovely lady." Artys whispered back, looking at the doors that revealed Garlan Tyrell, who walked up to the booth to be seated on the unoccupied side of Mace Tyrell. "Let the feasting commence!" Sounded from Lord Tyrell, who dug in the moment he was done announcing, a dissapointing glare from Lady Olenna Tyrell, his mother, shot up to Artys, making him feel a bit nervous. "Something on your mind Artys?" Margaery asked, seeing Artys stiffen up at the glare. "It's nothing really." Artys responded, smiling at Margaery, while hearing a biting comment from Loras on his other side.

"Loras, is there a problem?" Margaery asked, Loras losing color as he heard the threathing tone in her voice.

Garlan appeared behind them, speaking up instanly. "He's just jealous from the loss he suffered at the hands of Artys." Loras sinking in his seat. Margaery chuckled at her brother, as Garlan spoke up again. "I wanted to ask you if you're still up for that melee tomorrow, the competition isn't going to be that hard." Loras sat up straight again at hearing that. "You really should not underestimate us, I'm going to participate with Renly." Garlan chuckled. "Ah yes, the Renly that got eliminated in his first round of the tourney." Artys laughed at this, maybe a bit too hard as Loras started going red, obviously mad at how they made fun of Renly. "You both just wait tomorrow." Loras said as he stormed off, getting weird looks from the sitting nobles.

* * *

A/N: Hello there in case you wonder I'm going to use content from both the tv show and the books


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Guys here is chapter two

For starters

Nuclear Hero: I know I got the dates slightly wrong but I did to get my OC's slightly older so I wouldn't have 14 year supermans running around

Fenrir44: I can't tell you everything but rest assured I won't focus on just them and for the pairing you'll have to see :)

And last but not least I'll sometimes mess with dates and ages just so I don't have a 14 year old total badass. Once we hit a major point in the story I will reveal everybody's ages. Also if you seen any grammar mistakes know that I am not a native English speaker.

Hope you enjoy this chapter

Dawnofdorne

* * *

It was getting late but the Maester decided he would write one more paragraph. He hoped that this tome woudn't be too ponderous because he got a lot of critisicm on his last book. Hearing things like that wasn't good for his heart.

 _Artys in his younger years was known for travelling with only one guard, many of his friends and close confidants were not too happy about this. Luckily for him he never had any problems with bandits or such an if he did I haven't found any evidence for it._

 _One could say the lord Artys and his brother never got along quite well with their mother. Both men had a closer bond with their tutors then with their parents. Their relationships with their mother started deteriorating after Robert Arryn was born. Lady Arryn seemed to believe he was a child prodigy, and wanted him to become heir to the Vale. This course also let to rift between Lord Jon Arryn and the aforementioned Lady that never healed._

 _It was during this time that Lord Artys set his plans in motion for a more powerful Vale. The levies were trained at least once a month an shipyard sprung up all over the Vale albeit in secret. The Sistermen were given concessions unheard and were allowed the expand their fleet marginally._

Artys woke up at the sound of men running outside his tent. As he checked outside to see what time it was he noticed dawn just settled in. He went back inside and decided to get dressed, changing into some basic lordlike clothes before going to see Ser Robar Royce, a member of his personal guard, who had his own tent. "Ser Robar, are you up yet?" I asked, before entering the tent. "Yes My Lord." He answered, already in his armor ready to get going. "The tournament will start in an hour." A messenger announced from tent to tent, leaving before anybody could respond. "You heard that My Lord, time to go to get into your armor, and leave for the arena." While walking to my tent we ran into Ser Garlan, already in his full plate armor with the Tyrell symbols on them.

"Ah, Ser Artys, are you ready for the tourney?" Ser Garlan asked, accompanying Artys to his tent. "I would think so Ser Garlan." Artys responded, entering his tent. Putting on his tournament armor, full plate with the Arryn sigil.

"Ser Garlan, do you know who we're up against in the first round?" Artys asked, Ser Garlan thinking for a moment. "I think Ser Loras and Ser Renly." Artys laughed. "So Loras and Renly will not make it far in the tourney." Artys stated, Garlan also laughing now.

"Don't talk smack about my brother." Garlan said in a serious tone. "He can't help being so bad at fighting." He laughed then, making Artys laugh again. "Well, we better get going, it's about to start."

Walking outside of Artys' tent, Ser Robar accompanied them, informing them over the matchups. "So we have a high chance of getting finals, most of the good swordfighters have already returned home." Garlan noted, Ser Robar nodding.

"Well, just make sure that doesn't influence your fighting, Garlan, you never know who's going to rise up." Artys noted, obviously analyzing the opponents. "Ser Loras and Renly might not make it far in tourney, but the rest might."

Garlan nodded, while Robar seemed indifferent. Arriving at the tourney grounds Margaery was standing at the entrance, beaming up once she noticed Artys arriving. "Ser Artys, it's good to see you." She beamed, getting a smile from Artys while Garlan rolled his eyes. "It's good to see you too, My Lady." Ser Robar rolled his eyes at this too, knowing Artys, he was just toying with her. "Are you ready to see him actually win now?" Ser Garlan teased Lady Margaery. "You know, no matter how many times you win, you'll still be a loser Garlan." Artys responded slyly, getting a laugh out of Margaery and Robar, and a frown out of Garlan. "Ser Artys, you really seem to be good at making fun of the Tyrell's" Ser Robar responded after his laugh.

"He has a point you know, Artys." Margaery answered. "Okay I'm sorry Ser Garlan." Ser Garlan smiled, and then spoke up. "I get making fun of Loras though. It's just so easy." That statement drew a laugh out of both Margaery and Artys, Ser Robar being indifferent. "Lords and Ladies, the duo melee tournament is going to start!" Lord Mace Tyrell announced. "We should get going, Artys. You too Margaery, father is going to want you to be next to him." Garlan said, quickly stepping into the arena, while Artys said goodbye to Margaery. "In the first round, it's going to be, Ser Loras Tyrell and Ser Renly Baratheon, against: Ser Garlan Tyrell and Ser Artys Arryn!" Cheers erupted from the crowd, which happens quite a lot when one of the Tyrells are announced. "We're up Artys, let's go kick some ass." Garlan said, looking way more serious than before.

As they walked to the middle of the arena, they saw Loras and Renly standing there, Loras in his overly decorated armor and Renly in Baratheon branded armor, including a helmet with antlers. "Ah, Ser Artys and Ser Garlan." Renly laughed, "They couldn't have given us an easier matchup?" Loras looked at Renly. "No they're as easy as it gets." Loras said, making Artys and Garlan laugh. "Alright ladies, let's fight." Garlan said, Artys turning serious, drawing his sword, same as Garlan.

Garlan and Artys split up, both fighting only 1 person at a time. Ser Loras charged at Artys, being parried the moment he struck. Loras tried his best fighting Artys, but every attack he threw at Artys got parried or got dodged. Renly and Loras switched places, as Renly was having a bit less of a hard time. Renly's fighting stance was a bit more brutal but nothing Artys couldn't handle. Renly's footwork was really sloppy, and Artys noticed Renly charged at him, he dodged the attack, then he made Renly trip, and knocked him out cold. Now it was up to Garlan and Loras. It was obvious that Loras was mad at seeing his lover getting pummeled into dust. As he was striking Garlan again and again, just without success, as Garlan either parried or dodged. But then in a twist of events, Loras managed to get a solid shield bash in, momentarily stunning Garlan. Artys ran inbetween them, parrying Loras' strike aimed for Garlan's head and striking back, hard

Using this time bought by Artys, Garlan stood up, and they went on Loras together, beating him in less than a minute. "You cowards!" Loras shouted as they walked in front of the tribune of Mace Tyrell. "Well fought Ser Artys and Ser Garlan." Lord Mace announced. "You worked well together and you are advancing to the next round."

He dismissed both of them, and they went back to their respective tents. "When's the next round, Ser Robar?" Artys asked Ser Robar. "Tomorrow is the next one if I'm not mistaken." Robar answered, allowing Artys to get out of his armor. As he just got dressed into his normal attire, consisting out of not much else than just pants and a tunic, a messenger appeared inside his tent with a letter from his father, Jon Arryn.

 _Dear son_

 _Your presence is required her in King's Landing. It is a matter of the upmost importance.  
_

 _As High As Honor  
Lord Jon Arryn_

That was all the letter said, neither the messenger or Robar knew anything else. "I better go inform Garlan that I'm heading for King's Landing." Artys said, conversing with Robar. "If my father sends me a letter like this, it must be important." As he arrived at Garlan's tent, Margaery walked out of it. "Ah Artys, congratulations on the victory." Margaery beamed at Artys.

"Thank you My Lady, it's a shame I cannot continue to gain more victories in your name."

Margaery looked confused. "Why is that exactly, Ser Artys." Garlan said, outside of his tent now too. "I got a letter from my father, I need to make haste to King's Landing." Garlan nodded. "I'm sure it is important, I'll look for a new partner, if possible." Artys nodded and said goodbye to Garlan and Margaery.

As he turned around to go back to his tent Ser Robar appeared in front of him. "Ser Artys, I got us a wagon to transport your stuff to King's Landing, while I got us two horses." He announced, leading me to the stables, where our horses were waiting. "I guess we can leave then." And with that they both headed to King's Landing, where they arrived a few days later.

* * *

In King's Landing.

"I still like my own horse more." Artys muttered to himself when he and Robar were putting their horses in the stables at the Red Keep.

"Ah Artys, I see you have finally arrived." Lord Jon Arryn said, smiling at Artys.

"Hello father." Artys said, hugging his father. "How long are you staying here?" Jon asked, releasing Artys from the hug. "I don't know yet, but I'm supposed to meet Arstan in a few days." Walking up to the tower of the hand of the king, they arrived at Jon's quarters.

"I'll try not to keep you for long." Jon walked behind his desk, taking a rather short object wrapped in a cloth. Unwrapping the cloth, there was a sword in there. Not just any kind of sword, a Valyrian Steel sword, light blue of color, the words of his house etched into them. "Where did you get this?" Artys asked, surprised at the sword. "It's reforged from a sword from our ancestors, found it on mercenary, after we killed him." Jon answered dryly, giving the sword to Artys. "I know it's a bit shorter then a usual longsword, but someone made a crude arakh from the same blade, so it's not as big as it should be." Artys nodded. "Thanks father." Jon took a scabbard, specially made for Talon. "I want you to have this as well."

Artys put the sword and scabbard aside and hugged his father again. As they were hugging, his mother, Lysa Arryn, walked in.

"Ah Artys, it's good to see you again." She said, Artys' face remaining indifferent. Artys took the scabbard and Talon, and put them away. "I wish I could say the same mother." Artys spat, getting a look of disapproval from his mother. "Have you at least come to senses and abdicated your position as heir in favor of my Robin" Lysa asked, Artys growing more and more impatient with his mother. "The day I will do that is the day the Vale comes to an end." Artys spoke up, nearly yelling. Jon knew to stay out of the two their fights. "Robin would rule better than you!" Lysa yelled.

"ROBIN WOULD NEVER RULE. THE ONLY PERSON THAT MIGHT BE AS CLOSE TO BEING A GOOD RULER OF THE VALE AS FATHER IS ME OR ARSTAN." Artys exploded. During this Jon was leaving the room, telling the guards to stay out of their fight.

"How dare you even think Arstan could rule better than Robin, he's a savage. About as bloodthirsty as the clansmen of the Vale." Lysa fired back. "You're seriously making me lose my temper. If you weren't my mother I would've hit you by now." Artys whispered. "You're about as stupid as the clansmen of the Vale, they would like having Robin as a bloody Lord Paramount, they would have free reign ,pillaging and murdering at will, unless somebody else steps in, someone like me or my brother " Lysa looked at Artys with a scowl. "Get out right now!" She yelled. Artys obliged happily. He walked out of the room, nodding to his father and then going to the stables, where he found Ser Robar. "Let's go to our quarters." Artys said, Ser Robar following behind him. "What's wrong, my lord?" Robar asked, wondering why Artys seemed so mad. "Ran into my mother." Artys remarked mockingly. "Ah, explains a lot." Robar said smirking, understanding why he was mad.


	3. Chapter 3

The maester once again sat down behind his desk, sighing. He had so much idea's he had problems getting them down on paper. He decided that this was the point where those who would read this book would be enthralled by what was going on. So many things to write.

 _It is noted that the two brothers didn't mourn this much for their father, a father they hardly knew. Still the sorrow was there but the brothers quickly got over it. From several witnesses, it is known that Lord Artys and Lord Arstan didn't think fondly of their youngest brother._

 _The attack on Lord Baelish was not something unexpected, Artys truly despised the man and knew he was plotting something trying the curb the influence the man was getting in the Vale. Arstan resorted not to visit brothels owned by Petyr Baelish._

 _While hunting bandits was something the lord himself most of the time did Arstan was noted to often write letters to those lords so he could kill the bandits. His most notable act during this is that he had spent a fortnight in Sunspear during one of his trips._

* * *

"Artys, can I speak to you." Lord Jon Arryn asked, knocking on Artys' door.

"Come in." Artys said back

Ser Robar opening the door for Jon. "Artys, I need you to go back to the Vale." Was the first Jon said. Making Artys raise an eyebrow.

"Why? Isn't the regent doing his job?" Artys asked.

"No, but we need an Arryn back in the Vale, since your brother has chosen to pick fights with whomever he encounters." Jon answered. "What did he do maybe?" Artys asked, seemingly unsuprised that Artsan was picking fights.

"First he beats a band of bandits near Goldengrove, then he proceeded to throw Loras Tyrell, who also went to Goldengrove to deal with the bandits across the hall with impunity." Artys chuckled at this, hearing that Loras got beat up by his brother. "That sure does sound like him…" Artys said, making Jon sigh. "It does, doesn't it." Jon looked down to the ground. "When did he do it?" Artys asked, Jon looking up, before falling down onto the ground.

"ROBAR, GET HELP!" Artys immediately shouted, Robar coming in to see Jon on the ground, and then running to get a maester.

* * *

ARSTAN POV (Right before Artys arrived in King's Landing)

* * *

"Where are these bandits that are raiding your land?" Arstan asked Lord Mathis Rowan.

"They're not too far south from here, in the woods, Ser Arstan." Lord Mathis answered, Arstan leaving the formalities behind him.

"Thanks." Was all he said when he left again, rounding up his band of an odd 75 men, mostly light infantry and his everlasting companion Jon Redfort. "Alright men." Arstan announced. "We've got the location of the bandits. The man who slays the most bandits, won't have to pay for his ale tonight!" He yelled into the crowd, receiving a lot of cheers.

"So where are they, My Lord?" Ser Jon Redfort asked. "They're south of here, over in a forest. The favorite hiding spot of a bandit." Arstan laughed. "Sadly for them, it's never enough to save them." He laughed, walking over to his horse. "Let's ride to the forest men! For free ale!" Arstan cheered, as did the men.

Leaving Goldengrove to head for the forest, his trusty greatsword hanging on his horse. "So Arstan, what're we doing after this?" Ser Jon asked. "I think we might return to the Vale. The men surely could use the rest. They looked behind them, where their 75 men we're riding.

"Still surprised we had this many horses with us." Ser Jon laughed. "Well, we did steal loads from some bandits." Arstan laughed. "They didn't need them anyways." Both of them laughed. "What's that over there?" Ser Jon asked, pointing in front of them. "I don't know, stay with the men." Arstan commanded, riding after the mystery man.

Before Arstan realized it, he was drawn into the forest, the same that the bandits occupied. He got of his horse, realizing he was surrounded, he drew his greatsword. "If you think you got what it takes, step up then." He stated calmly, nudging his horse to run. The leaves rustled behind him, as he turned around he saw 4 men walking from behind trees, and 3 more behind him.

"There's 7 of us, and 1 of you." One of the bandits laughed.

"You won't survive this, but if you lay down that sword maybe we'll let you live." Another one chirped.

Arstan struck in front of him, one of the bandits jumping back. "Oi a feisty one, are we?" They taunted. Arstan walked backwards 3 steps, one of the bandits trying to lunge at him with a shortsword, but being swiftly dodged by Arstan. Arstan retaliated, striking the bandit in his back, killing him in an instant. Another bandit lunged, also being dodged, but almost hitting him though. As the bandit stumbled forward, Arstan kicked him in the chest, making the bandit fall. He then put his sword through the bandit's throat. As he pulled his sword from the bandit, one jumped him from behind, but Arstan standing 1.85m ( 6 feet) tall and built like a bear, he hit the man square in his jaw, while putting his sword in front of him to block an incoming blow.

"Why won't you just die already!" One of the bandits shouted. "Because there were 7 of you and now only 5!" Arstan yelled back.

"Actually there's about 70 of us." A man suddenly shouted, and then arrows flew into the bandits, killing all but one bandit.

"Now, how about you tell us where your buddies?" Arstan stated. The bandit cowering in fear.

Arriving on the outskirts of the bandit camp, Arstan and his man went into position. Leaving their horses outside of the camp, due to the number of trees, most of the men dropped their bows, as there's too much cover, and Arstan leading. Arstan signaled his men to start advancing, but rather than a normal military approach, they went in stealthy. Under the cover of the setting sun, the bandits seemed oblivious of them. As they approached closer and closer of the camp, the bandits got more and more drunk. Everything went completely according to plan, until one of his men stepped on a branch.

"Shit."

Suddenly the man net to him fell down an arrow lodged in his throat. The bandits charged at them, most of them being sober enough to fight. Arstan drew his sword, and charged. He knocked over one man, tearing open another man's stomach. The bandits were roughly double the men, but not nearly as trained as Arstan's men, who had the most experience in the entire realm when dealing with bandits, maybe rivaled with his brother, but the clansmen from the Vale are hardy bandits. "RALLY TO ME!" Arstan yelled, his men fighting to accompany their leader, who was fending of bandits left and right. Arstan struck with his sword, tearing through 3 bandits their armor at the same time.

"CHARGE!" Ser Jon yelled from the other side of the camp, him having 40 men with him compared to Arstan's 30, they fared better. Although they both already lost men, their ranks still counted 50 men, against another 80 men. Arstan saw a man running, knowing it was most likely their leader, he ran after him, needing little to no effort to catch up. Running into the leader, he knocked him over, dropping to the ground as well. Crawling over to the leader, he hit him right in the jaw, took his beloved curved dagger and drove it through the man's skull, killing him in an instant.

As Arstan regrouped with his men, he noticed how he suffered little casualties, but still lost enough men to feel sorrowful. "Round up the dead, let's bury them." He said, "We'll make it back to Goldengrove tonight." He said, helping his men bury the dead. "All of these men, they we're our brothers. Their sacrifice will not be forgotten, but we cannot mourn for long, as we must depart for Goldengrove. We'll bring news to their next of kin soon." Arstan announced, leaving for Goldengrove, where they would spend the night.

"Ah Ser Arstan, I take it you're here to collect the bounty?" Lord Mathis asked, as Arstan walked into the hall, alongside Ser Jon Redfort. "As of a matter in fact I am." Was all Arstan said, still using no formalities.

"Very well." Lord Mathis clapped, summoning a steward who fetched the reward.

"80 golden dragons." Ser Jon said. "Sounds about right." As Arstan was leaving, Loras Tyrell walked in.

"Ah, Ser Loras." Lord Mathis announced. "Welcome to Goldengrove!" Loras walked to Lord Mathis, and said. "I'm here to defeat the bandits, I brought 500 men to put an end to them."

Arstan chuckled. "Are you sure that's enough men for you Loras, we defeated them with 75, so you might need more men."

Ser Jon laughed at this, Loras turning red.

"And who might you be." He spotted.

"My name is Arstan Arryn, brother to Artys Arryn and son of Jon Arryn and Lysa Tully." Was all Arstan said. "And you must be, Loras Tyrell, loser of tourneys and the man that loves flowers he nearly shits them out."

You could almost see the steam rise from Loras. "You think you can mock me like that?! I AM LORAS OF HOUSE TYRELL." He yelled. "AND IM ARSTAN OF HOUSE ARRYN!" Artys laughed after yelling that back.

But seemingly crossing the line, Loras answered. "If you want to duel so be it. The entire realm knows that Artys and you might be good warriors, both knighted at age 16, but like your brother you're worth nothing."

And just like that, Arstan took Loras by the hem of his armor and on his leg, throwing Loras from the end of the hall all the way to the doors. "Say that again, Rose boy. And this will end worse." Was all Arstan said as they left.

Arstan and his men were packing up their belongings and getting ready to return to the Vale, after travelling for nearly 6 months. "Ser Arstan!" Was heard as Goldengrove's Maester shuffled over to Arstan and Jon. "I bring you a letter, bearing your seal." Handing over the letter Arstan looked at the seal. "It's a letter from my brother." He announced, dismissing the Maester and Ser Redfort, so he could read the letter in peace.

 _'Dear brother. Father has fallen ill and is most likely not getting up again, I'm taking the Arryn household and guards from King's Landing and I'm returning to the Eyrie. There's a new part of our retinue, Ser William Barrows, a master at horse riding, and he trains Barrow knights. Once I'm back at the Eyrie father will surely have passed on. The falcon must be ready to fly across the great water._

 _Signed, Artys Arryn._ '

Arstan stood perplexed by these words, but he knew his father wouldn't want him to morn him, so he gathered himself and left for the Eyrie.

* * *

Artys POV

* * *

Artys pondered about in his room, Ser Robar standing guard. "What do you want to do, Artys?" Robar asked, unsure of what Artys was planning.

"I've sent word to my brother that we're going back to the Eyrie, as father is most likely to die."

Robar understood what he meant, Artys was going to become Lord Paramount.

"We should get the entire guard regiment and household with us, they're going to be handy back home, in the Vale." Artys started packing up his belonging, "And send word to my vassals. They need to know what happened to father." Robar and Artys left the room, rounding up most of the guards and the household.

"We're going to leave for the Eyrie soon, as Lord Arryn will soon pass from us. We've readied horses and carrriages for all of you and we're ready to leave after Artys sees his father for the last time." Robar told the stewards and guards, who we're ready to leave King's Landing.

"Mother, let me see father." Artys stated coldly.

"I forbid you to see him, you're unworthy of ruling the Vale." She coldly stated back, testing Artys' patience.

Artys pushed her aside, the few remaining Vale guards helping Lysa back up.

"Father." Artys said, as he walked in and sat on the bed next to his father.

"I don't have much time left in this world, Artys." Jon said, Artys already knowing this. "Remember the seed is strong my son, don't mourn me but fly."

And with that, Artys left. The way to the stables didn't go entirely as planned.

"Ser Artys, how do you fare?" Petyr Baelish asked, a man who Artys despised. "What do you want, Baelish." Artys sighed, Baelish simply smiling. "I just want to say farewell to you."

And with that Lord Baelish whispered something in Artys' ear, "Wonder what would happen if something happened to you and your brother. Robin sickly and Lysa is so vulnerable in mourning, she might need a strong man.

That was enough to anger Artys so much that he pushed Baelish onto the ground, repeatedly hitting him. It wasn't until Ser Robar pulled Artys of Baelish that he stopped.

"He's not worth it, My Lord. Let's go."

* * *

A/N Here he is Arstan, the rougher version of his elder brother. If any of you noticed some grammar mistakes do tell, I hope you enjoy and I will gladly answer any questions should you have some.


	4. Chapter 4

_A/n I actually have no excuse for keeping you guys waiting longer than normal. I know this is a rather short chapter, for some this could be considered boring. It is however a necessary evil. Thank you all for the reviews._

 _mpowers045: who knows :)_

* * *

 _Everybody knew Artys wasn't stupid and he didn't have any premonitions, however some of his idea's seemed rather radical. We know that after his father passes, Artys had a lot of sleepless nights. Ruling the Vale, a crazy mother and a brother for which unpredictable was a euphemism. The calming influence of the character most people only know as the Northman, was noticeable._

* * *

"My Lord, we've nearly reached Darry." One of his men announced, the journey back to the Vale being nearly flawless.

"We'll stay here for a night, then continue onwards, if Lord Raymund Darry allows us so."

Arriving in Darry as night nearly settled Lord Darry allowed Artys and his party to stay, even going as far as to feed them. During the meal Artys got seated at the table with Raymund Darry, his son Lyman Darry, and Raymund's niece, Jeyne Darry.

"So where are you off to Lord Arryn?" Raymund asked, the servants placing down food in front of Artys. "I'm heading back to the Vale." Artys replied, starting to eat.

"You're not married yet, are you?" Raymund suddenly asked, Artys raising an eyebrow at him. "I am not, why?" He replied, Lyman sighing while Jeyne looked away at the embarrassment that was about to befall her.

"Well, I have a fair maiden sitting right here." Raymund laughed.

"I'm afraid I must turn it down, I don't think my family would be all too pleased." Artys lied, trying his best not to offend Raymund, but he took no offence. The rest of the meal proceeded rather silent as the conversation died out. After the meal Artys retreated to his tent, where he insisted on staying.

The rest of the journey was pretty uneventful until he reached The Bloody Gate, where he took Brynden Tully, 'The Blackfish', with him to the Eyrie. Upon arriving in the Eyrie, he was hailed by most of the men and women, happy to see an Arryn back where he truly belonged. However, a lot of the cheers died out as he declared himself Lord Paramount, the ravens not having reached the Vale about Jon's death.

"Arstan is riding back with haste, as we must prepare for whatever is going to come." Most of the men didn't know what he meant, but they assumed a war was coming, back then, they had no idea how right they were. Artys entered main hallway, heading into his father's solar which was his now, followed by Brynden Tully. "What do we do now, nephew?" He asked, Artys looking frantically through his father's documents. "Can you do me a favor?" Artys suddenly asked. Brynden nodded. "Tell the Maester, to send ravens to all the lords of the Vale. They need to swear fealty to me." With that Brynden left, leaving Artys alone to search his father's solar.

A few days later

* * *

As Artys was installed in the solar, most of the lords arrived, or their next of kin, to swear fealty to Artys, as the new lord of the Vale. The lords quickly got dismissed after swearing fealty, as Artys had much to do, but that quickly changed as Lord Yohn Royce and Lady Anya Waynwood arrived. Lord Royce nearly instantly swore fealty, since he himself mentored Artys. Lady Waynwood was hesitant but swore fealty without a second doubt.

"If Lord Royce has this much trust in you, I'm sure you'll be a just leader, of your brother however, I'm a bit unsure." Lady Waynwood said, Artys understanding as Arstan was ruthless and unpredictable at times. "I can handle my brother, no matter how unpredictable he is, he's a great military ruler and he listens to me." Artys responded, gesturing the both to sit at the table in the middle of the solar.

"I know I called you here to swear fealty, but as my most important vassals, I need to have a word with you." Artys said, "I wish we could do it with Lord Belmore and Lord Redfort here, but sadly Lord Belmore couldn't make it and Lord Redfort is still on his way. "A war is coming, and we need to be prepared."

Both Yohn and Anya were surprised to hear this, and how Artys learned of it.

"How can you be so sure?" Lady Anya asked, while lord Yohn remained quiet. "My father fell ill, really ill in the matter of a day, while that could be normal for his age, I don't want to be caught blindsided." Lord Royce nodded before adding. "What do you mean, do you want us to gather the armies and march out already?"

Before Artys could respond a knock was heard on the door. "Come in." Brynden Tully appeared through the door, and took seat at the table.

"My brother is bedridden, we're afraid Edmure will become new Lord Paramount." He said, everybody knowing Brynden was very outpoken with the truth about Edmure being a fool. "I'll have to return to Riverrun soon, hopefully talk some sense into Edmure."

Lord Royce nodded while Anya remained stoic. "Let's get back to business." Artys spoke up. The three of them nodding. "How many men can we raise?" Artys asked, to which Royce replied. "About forty one thousand men." Brynden seemed impressed by this as Artys seemed to just think. "We're unapproachable from the Bloody Gate. They need to hit us our lands outside of the mountains or stage a naval invasion.

"I have however thought about it and I came up with a plan if a war really does break out." Artys said." I propose this. If a war breaks out, we can't sit inside our mountains, cowering like a bunch of whipped dogs. Thirty thousand men shall proceed accordingly. Every levy shall be armed with quality weapons, with are most veteran men and our men at arms at the forefront of this expeditionary force. This force shall be divided into two roughly equal parts. I and lord Royce shall command one, while lord Belmore and lord Redfort shall command another one."

"What about you brother, have you thought about him?" Lady Anya suddenly piped in.

Artys exhaled loudly before turning his cold eyes to her.

" Lady Waynwood, you are indeed up there with the most important nobles, and I'm indeed very young. But this does not give you the right to interrupt me. Do so again and I shall not respond so kind. Is that understood?" Artys said harshly.

"Understood." Lady Waynwood said.

"As I was saying lord Belmore and lord Redfort shall command the other one. My brother shall take one thousand men and act as a liaison between these two armies, while also raiding our enemies their supply line. This leave ten thousand men to protect our homes."

How is the naval power?" He finally asked, to which Anya replied. "Our fleet is nearly nonexistent, apart from the fleet from the Three Sisters and Gulltown, but The Three Sisters lost their glory long time ago, House Sunderland is still relatively in power." Artys seemed lost in thought, before dismissing the lords, as he needed to address some other lords and have more oaths of fealty sworn to him.

1 Week later.

* * *

"Lord Jon Arryn has officially died, and he will be buried in King's Landing, on request of King Robert Baratheon." Artys announced to his Lords and Ladies still in the Eyrie.

Artys quickly retreated back into his solar, where he stayed for a few hours, before one of the servants knocked on his door, announcing the arrival of Ser Vardis, the captain of the guard.

"My Lord, I need to address a formal situation with you." He announced, taking stance in front of Artys' desk.

"Speak." Was all Artys said.

"I think you need to treat your mother, Lady Lysa, better." He said, Artys obviously not happy he brought it up.

"Why should I treat that woman better, she doesn't even want me to lead the Vale, she'd rather see our house burned to the ground for Robin." Artys spat with contempt.

"Well, I personally think she has a point, you're ready to lead us in an all out war that's non-existent." Ser Vardis fired back.

"You're dismissed. Even as the captain of the guard until further notice." Artys stated coldly, but Ser Vardis understanding he was out of line. Ser Vardis left the room and Artys continued to work out a plan for the defense of the Vale, in case it would happen. It wasn't until it was nearly time for supper that one of the servants came to check up on Artys, who told the servant to send word to Harrold Hardyng, as he required an audience with him.

As Harrold entered Artys his solar, Artys rose from his chair. "My good friend, it's good to see you." Artys said, hugging Harold briefly. Sitting back behind his desk as Harold took a seat at the desk as well.

"What do you require of me, My Lord." Harrold asked, the sentence coming over overly formal as they both laughed.

"Well, I recently retracted Ser Vardis' status as captain of the guard, and I need somebody to hold that place, until I find a fitting replacement." Artys said, "Not that you're not fitting, but I imagine you have other things to take care of."

Harold nodded. "I shall be the captain for now, as it's hard to deny such a tempting offer, but indeed I cannot hold the position for the rest of my time." They shook hands and the word quickly spread.

* * *

A/n I do promise that the next chapter will be longer and have more action in it. Also it will be a more Arstan focused chapter. There will also be a bonus for the personwho figures out who the maester is.


	5. Chapter 5

_A/n: Shit.. I did it again. Sorry for being so late but school kept me busy and I haven't had much time to write. But I again I do hope you enjoy this chapter and if there is anything you noticed that seemed wrong do let me know._

* * *

 _The Maester puffed, he had just been in a heated discussion with Maester Tarly about the… the….. He couldn't even remember how silly. What the Maester did remember was how often Lord Arstan's sword was mentioned in the old manuscripts he had read._

 _While conducting he research he had heard many arguments. Some of the smallfolk didn't want to say anything bad about the Arryn brother, others said to much, most words that came back were, violent cruel a hedonist not many good words. Most of the nobility said some quite positive things about this unnaturally gifted swordsman. It was said he often picked to much fights, but these fights he usually won. He was a man not to be underestimated not even verbally as he retorted always usually to the annoyance of his older brother. When speaking to the now very old Harrold Arryn whose memory is still in tact, he said that they often ridiculed each other or insulted one another without taking offense._

 _This further underlines that these two men were just regular brothers, who had to grow up much to quickly._

* * *

-This chapter starts at the same time Artys leaves King's Landing,-

* * *

Crossing into the Crownlands, on their way to stop at King's Landing.

"So Arstan, why are we going to King's Landing again?" Jon Redfort asked, unsure as to why Arstan would go to King's Landing.

"My Valyrian Steel Sword is currently in the hands of Thoros of Myr, I'm going to retrieve it." Arstan responded, seeing King's Landing emerge in the distance. "I'm not going to visit father, it would take up too much time, we need to be back in the Vale as soon as possible."

Arstan and his men approached King's Landing flying an Arryn banner. They were let in immediately, Arstan's search ideally would've ended faster, but Thoros had many hiding places, but he was found soon anyways.

"Thoros Of Myr." Arstan announced as he sat down next to Thoros. "Arstan Arryn!" Thoros cheered. "I'm here to collect my Valyrian steel sword." Arstan said. Thoros nodded, leaving the tavern, gesturing Arstan to follow behind. Leaving the tavern, Thoros went to the middle-class district, where he resided. They entered Thoros' house, which was small but livable. Thoros closed the door, making sure they weren't followed. When he was sure nobody else was around, not even Arstan's men, Thoros opened a hatch in his floor, revealing a two handed sword.

"Here it is." Thoros said, running his hand over the runes, lighting them up while he did. "If you take this blade out of its scabbard, the runes will light up." Thoros said, handing the sword to Arstan, who put the blade away, handing Thoros his old sword.

"Keep it, you might find a use for it one day." Arstan said, saying goodbye to Thoros before leaving.

Rounding up his men from the various brothels and taverns, they set off towards the Vale, not stopping until they reached Saltpans, where they set up camp.

"Ser Jon, do you think we need a recon party?" Arstan asked, while setting up a campfire.

"Don't think so, there are no bandits parties large enough around Saltpans. However, we should put some men on guard duty." Jon said, taking place by the campfire.

It wasn't long before nightfall, but the men stayed awake, all wanting to hear the story of how Arstan got his Valyrian Steel Sword. "What's the sword called?" One of the men asked. "Sun's Strike." Arstan responded. "Where did you get it from?"

"It was about a year ago, I was patrolling with a band of 25 men from Strongsong. We heard about a large group of bandits harassing some villages, so I was assigned to lead the guardsmen that had to deal with the bandits. We set out and after travelling for 3 days, we ran straight into an ambush. The clan that attacked us were the Painted Dogs, it was also the last time the painted dogs ever did something major." Arstan said grinning.

* * *

"It's really quiet here, I can't even hear birds." The capitain of the guard, Edwyn Stone, whispered.

" _AARRGHHH." Was heard in the distance as the Clansmen all descended down upon us. They were roughly with 60 men. I drew my sword and struck down one clansmen, running down the slope we were on. After arriving in the back of their lines, they surrounded me with 8 men. I quickly struck forward, only to be parried, these clansmen being better at fighting that I had anticipated. The biggest of the eight struck out at me, but I dodged it, swinging back in the process. I hit his arm, a deep cut apparent. It was me however to do the next blow, striking to my left, cutting a man clean open. The tallest man fled the scene, the cut in his arm bleeding profusely. It was me left with 6 men, but I quickly overpowered 4 of them, cutting them down with ease. It was not until I started dueling the other 2 men, that I was hit from behind, making me fall unconscious._

 _I awoke in a wooden cage, next to another 10 men, meaning only 15 of us fell during the fight._

"Ser Arstan, you're awake." One of the men chimed, most of the men happy to see him awake.

"How long have we been here?" He asked, one of the men responding. "About two days, you've been out cold for most of the time."

Arstan shifted his position, standing up in the cage. One of the guards noticed and came over to me, according to his accent, a villager that joined them. "Ah who do we have here." The villager said, "Arstan Arryn." Arstan stood up and grabbed the man by his collar through the bars, as the cage wasn't build very well.

"You listen here you little shit, there's nothing you can do to me." he taunted, the villager going white.

 _Before I could do anything to the villager, two of the clansmen came and helped him, but failed to do anything about me. As both of the guards left with the villager, one of the commanders of the clansmen came to me, and ordered me to come out the cell, a dozen of clansmen coming to extract me. I was taken to the main building of their fortress they were in, where they sat me down on a chair and bound me._

"So, this villager tells me you're Arstan Arryn, son to Jon Arryn. Second in line to inherit the Vale." The chief chimed, studying my reaction, as Arstan remained stoic.

"I don't fear you, and you'll get nothing from me." Arstan said, the chief laughing.

"We have about 200 men here, what do you think you can do to us? Even if they know you're missing, nobody knows you and your men are here."

Arstan smiled now.

"Why are you smiling?!" He asked, hitting him in his face.

"Now I know how many of you dogs I have to kill to get out of this shithole"

The chief hit Arstan again, his vision going blurry, before he woke up again in his cell.

"Arstan, what did you do there?" One of the older men asked him.

"I taunted their captain, figured out how many men are here."

The men seemed to light up, as Arstan already was planning an escape. "They have around 200 men here, we can take that at night, they will be celebrating their victory." The men gathered around more, listening intently to what Arstan was planning. "This cage can be broken with a single push, once we are out, we ambush their guard battalion, and take a bunch of their weapons before finding where they store their weapons, once there, we will head to their 'keep' and kill their chief."

The men agreed, and sat down, waiting for nightfall. Once night fell, the sound of their music masked the sound of us pushing the cage down. "1, 2, 3, PUSH!" Arstan yelled, the cage falling and the guards around it were swiftly taken out.

 _We only had weapons for 10 men, so I gave it to the best fighters, so they could hold the prison as our small basecamp, while I snuck around trying to find their armory. I snuck behind 3 guards, quickly silencing them in the cover of darkness. I signaled some men to clean the bodies, before I strolled into the armory, yielding 2 daggers. The armory was guarded by 9 men, who all tried their luck against me, but all got cut down quick and without showing any mercy. I signaled for the men, who quickly advanced to the armory and equipped themselves._

While they were equipping themselves he noticed a switch on the wall, and watched in surprise when he pressed it, as the wall in the back of the armory opened up, revealing a Valyrian Steel Two Handed sword. Arstan grabbed it, wielding it twice as easy as a normal sword.

"Is that valyrian steel?" One of the men asked in confusion.

"It is." Arstan responded. "Let's go men, you stealthily attack their party, I'll deal with their captain." Arstan commanded, heading off towards their keep.

 _Walking into their keep, I was stopped by a squad of 13 guards, who stood there in confusion how I got my hands on their sword, and better protection._

 _"We were gonna go to the feast, but it seems something got in the way." Their captain laughed, signaling his guards to attack me._

 _I parried and parried, easily beating them because of the sword. I struck 2 down, before parrying and dodging other attacks, taking 2 out with me again. I kept this on, slowly dwindeling their numbers before they had 2 guards left, that surrendered and ran away._

"It's just you and me now, big boy." Arstan taunted, the chief grabbing a shield and holding his axe in his hand.

"Let's dance." He laughed, trying to strike me down immediately, but being parried with ease.

"You hit like a child." he laughed, the captain growing madder and madder, his strikes becoming easier and easier to dodge. It wasn't long before I struck the captain's axe out of his hand, before throwing my sword to the ground and jumping the captain, kicking his shield away. "How. Does. It. Feel. Being. The. One. That. Is. Getting. Hit?" Arstan taunted, hitting him in the face with every word.

 _I grabbed a dagger from the belt he still had, pinning his hand on the floor before cutting off his hand, then_ _I put the other dagger inside of his arm, through the floor, pinning his arm down to the ground. and leaving him bleeding to death with nothing he could do about, Once I left the keep with my sword in my hands, I saw the entire courtyard cleaned out, and instead of the 15 men I had, there were 90 men extra standing there, all the villagers that helped overthrow the clansmen. Since it was still night we stayed in the fortress for the rest of the night, making sure there were no more clansmen. In the morning I got waken up by the men, eager to go back to their homes. It took us 2 days to return, the way back to Strongsong not that clear. Once we returned to Strongsong, most of the men that were still there, cheered, thinking we most likely died._ "

 _I quickly told everybody what happened, a lot of the men agreeing, while also showing off the Valyrian Steel sword I found, keeping it for myself._

"And that men, is how I got the sword, and murdered a lot of clansmen." Most of the men listened intensely as Arstan recited the story, some jealous at how mighty a warrior he was at such a young age, as most come from lowborn parents without a good military education. "But men, we need to march out soon tomorrow, let's rest now." Arstan announced, the men complying and going to sleep, prepared for the road to the Eyrie tomorrow


	6. Chapter 6

A bit of a quicker update due to being late with the last two chapters, a bit longer too. I had a lot of time on my hands this weekend and because of that this chapter.

Andrews 31: The tall talking brute isn't entirely what I'm going for, but for the moment that suits me just fine, also I know I rushed the last chapter because I was late with uploading it.

* * *

When Lord Artys' reign started, corruption roamed freely in the Vale. Attempts were made to keep said corruption in check, some of them worked others did not. While there will always be corruption in the Vale. The purge f 298 AC was something to behold. Now many of my colleagues decided that it actually was a wild witch hunt, an opportunity for the people to get rid of those they disliked. The faith was also unhappy about an attack on their own, needless to say the Arryn brothers couldn't care less. However controversial it did work.

* * *

Arriving at the Eyrie, Lord Nestor and Yohn Royce were quick to welcome Arstan back.

"Lord Arstan, welcome back." Nestor Royce, the steward of the Eyrie greeted.

"Lord Arstan, it was time you were back." Lord Yohn said, not impressed by Arstan's supposed tardiness.

"I came as quick as I could Lord Royce." Arstan said, Lord Royce remaining indifferent. Saying goodbye to both of them, he quickly made way to his older brother, but was kept at the courtyard as he found most of the new trainees to be rather bad at swordfighting.

"I'll show you how it's done." Arstan boasted towards Ser Vardis, who was training the young lads. Arstan gestured Ser Vardis to attack him, both wielding a shortsword and shield. Ser Vardis struck Arstan on his shield, before Arstan put his foot in front of Ser Vardis' leg, making Vardis fall on the ground.

"I'll get you for that!" Vardis yelled, Arstan dropping the sword and shield and quickly grabbing a training-greatsword from the weapons rack.

Parrying the first attack that Vardis threw, Arstan chuckled, angering Vardis more. Arstan struck his first blow, hitting Vardis on his shield, but staggering him. Arstan parried another 9 attacks of Vardis before striking again, noticing a new spectator, wearing special armour the likes of which he has only seen a few times. Vardis notices Arstan's sudden lack of attention and struck him on his shoulder, getting Arstan's attention again. Arstan quickly reacted by a flurry of quick blows to Vardis' shield, knocking it to the ground before Vardis yielded. Arstan gave the two handed sword back to one of the trainees before walking over to the knight.

"So who are you, Ser?" Arstan asked, the knight smiling.

"I'm Ser William Barrows, the leader of the Vale's Barrowknights, appointed by Lord Artys Arryn." William proudly said, "But you, My Lord, can call me Will." He finished, Arstan was a bit impressed, as he didn't know there were barrowknights so far south.

"Ah, so you're the Will my brother told me about." Arstan said, inspecting the armour he was wearing.

"Custom made by the blacksmith here." Will said, Arstan impressed, but Arstan knew his armour was better.

"I saw your fighting, very impressive." William said, praising Arstan ever so slightly. "I'd be willing to try my best against you." He then said, surprising Arstan, as many are unwilling to fight the young Arryn.

"May the best win then." Arstan responded, grabbing another two-handed sword from the training racks, as Will grabbed a shortsword and shield. Arstan quickly struck first, bashing at Will's shield before will retaliated, clutching onto his shield, but getting parried by Arstan. Will swung at Arstan, but missed by a hair before Arstan hit Will his sword twice, nearly dropping it in the process. Will backed off a bit, allowing himself some breathing room before Arstan struck his shield again, and again, and again, before he nearly had to drop because of the sheer power behind Arstan's swings, Arstan himself struggled to get a hit on any other location than his shield, Will being surprisingly good with it. Arstan tried multiple times to knock him off his feet during his attacks, but failed every time. However, Arstan managed to get a glancing blowon his shoulder, making Will lose balance for a second. Arstan quickly prepared to strike a blow on his shield, which would knock him down, but before Arstan struck his blow, he was sprayed down on the floor. A well placed shield-bash knocking Arstan over. Arstan looked upwards, but stopped as he felt the sword at his throat.

"How did you…?" Arstan asked surprised, Will moving the sword away from Arstan's throat.

"Easy, you rely too much on strength." He replied, giving Arstan a hand to help him up.

"What do you mean by that, I win all my fights with my strength." Arstan replied, getting a chuckle out of Will.

"Well you see, you nearly struck me down, simply by relying on your brute strength, but I managed to find an opening where if you didn't rely on it, you would have noticed and you could have countered. If you struck me on my shield before I hit you with it, I would have undoubtedly have fallen, and you would have been victorious, but as I said before, I noticed and countered you."

Arstan nodded, taking a mental note of what Will said, keeping it in mind to train on it soon. "Well, anyways, it was a good fight. You are one of the few that beat me Ser Barrows." Arstan praised Will, for not many beat him, ever.

"I'm still surprised you beat me, might want to teach my brother that, since he hasn't won a single duel against me." Arstan laughed, and shortly after Will did too.

"Speaking of him, I should most likely go and see him." Arstan said, saying goodbye to Will and heading towards the solar his brother was holed up in.

"Lord Arryn wished not to be interrupted" Lord Robar Royce said, staying guard in front of Artys' door, not allowing Arstan to enter.

"Robar, I swear to the seven you better let me in here." Arstan stated coldly.

"Lord Arryn sai-" Robar tried to explain before Arstan interrupted him. "I'm also Lord Arryn so you better let me in."

However, Robar remained in front of him position, or at least he did before getting roughly pushed out of the way by Arstan. "I thought I said not to interrupt me." Artys stated, not bothering to look up to who entered his Study.

"Well, I figured your work could wait." Arstan said, Artys still looking at the letter he was reading. "I highly doubt that, brother." Artys said before looking up and smiling at Arstan, getting up and giving him a hug.

"It's good to see you again brother." Arstan said, Artys sitting back at his desk.

"So how was your trip?" Artys asked.

"Successful." Arstan responded. "Cleared out some bandits in the Reach, messed around in the Westerlands with some Lannister soldiers. Oh yeah, that reminds me, what happened between you and that flower boy Loras Tyrell?"

This made Artys chuckle. "Oh, I trampled our rose during the tourney at Highgarden, why?"

Arstan took seat at the opposite end of the desk, putting his feet on a different chair. "He threatened me, called you and me worthless, and flew across the hall in Goldengrove." Artys looked up at this.

"Is he okay?" He asked, "I think so." Arstan replied.

"Unfortunate." Artys said, making both of them laugh. "So what have you been up to?" Arstan asked.

"Ruling the Vale recently, other than that I participated in said tourney, nearly won but I was defeated by a competent Tyrell." Artys said, Arstan smiling.

"And other than that I mostly stayed in King's Landing when I wasn't in the Vale." Artys saddened talking about King's Landing as it reminded it of his father.

"Did you see him?" Arstan asked, Artys nodding.

"I was in King's Landing for an hour, but I didn't say goodbye to him." Arstan said sadly. "I had to retrieve Titan's Bite from Thoros Of Myr." Artys stood up. "Father gave me a gift before he passed." He walked over to a cabinet, retrieving a sword wrapped in cloth. "Its name is Talon, reforged from our lost ancestral sword."

Arstan took the sword, it felt extremely light, even compared to his own Valyrian Steel sword. "It's shorter than a normal sword, since not all of the steel could recuperated." Artys stated. Arstan gave back the sword, which Artys just placed on his desk.

"Look at what mine can do." Artys said, as he withdrew his sword from its scabbard, as the runes started to glow. "Wow." Artys stated, as he stared at the blade. "Magic from the 'God Of Light'" Arstan mocked, as he never took a liking in the gods. "I met that William Barrows fellow as well." Arstan said.

"Duelled him." Artys looked over to Arstan again. "Is he okay? You didn't kill him did you?" Artys asked hurriedly.

"No, I lost." Artys looked shocked, his brother fought Ser Barristan, and held out for very long against one of the best swordfighters the realm had ever known. His skill rivalled Jaime Lannister's, yet a relatively unknown Barrowknight managed to defeat him. "How did he manage to do that?" Artys asked shocked.

"Told me he used my strength against me." Arstan chuckled.

"I don't understand." Artys said, still shocked. "You fought some of the greatest knights of the realm, yet you lost to an unknown swordfighter?"

Arstan chuckled, "Yes, I'm very surprised as well, however, you still can't beat me so I'm alright."

Artys laughed. "Don't make me challenge you to a duel." Arstan also laughed. "I wouldn't do that, hurting a Lord Paramount is probably punishable." A knock on the door interrupted the brothers.

"My Lords." Ser Robar said as he walked into the room. "I have been asked by one of the servants to inform the both of you that supper is nearly ready."

The young Lords nodded while Robar left the room. "Better eat then, I have something for you to do after we eat." Artys said, Arstan sighing as he knew Artys was going to put him to work.

After they ate they both entered the Solar, walking over to a grand map of the Vale hanging from the wall. "You see here, in Gulltown?" Artys pointed towards Gulltown. "There is major corruption there, I'm going to need you to stomp it out." Artys stated plainly, Arstan raising one eyebrow. "By any means necessary?" Arstan asked, Artys nodded, before going back to work behind his desk, dismissing Arstan.

Gathering up around 500 men the next morning, Arstan set out towards Gulltown, the Graftons not being warned didn't even expect the young Arryn's arrival. The men Arstan gathered mostly consisted of mounted infantrymen, to move quicker towards Gulltown, but he had about 50 knights with him as well, who mostly led in the front with Arstan and Ser Jon Redfort. The trip lasted about a 5 days, and was mostly uneventful except on the 4th day, where a small band of mountain clansmen tried to ambush them, but the 100 archers Arstan took with him made quick work of them, even on horseback. By the time they were but a day away, Ser Jon rode up next to Arstan, who was visibly bored by the lack of action.

"My Lord, did I ever tell you about the girl I met back at a tourney in Redfort?"

Arstan looked at him now with curiosity, Ser Jon's stories about the girls he meets, never fail to make you interested.

"Lovely girl, beautiful green eyes and wavy brown hair. I noticed her from my horse, sitting in the tribune paying ever so slightly attention to me ignoring everyone else." Jon boasted, making Arstan chuckle lightly. "After the tourney, during the feast, I saw her sitting at a table, and went over to her and introduced myself." Jon said, smiling. "And the rest of that, is history, for what happened after is a secret." Jon laughed, making Arstan roll his eyes.

"Is that all you got to say, I thought it would be a bit harder to get the girl, considering you are you."

Ser Jon smiled at this. "It's not always hard. Besides, what do you have to say about women, when is the last time you've been with one?" Jon taunted, making Arstan blush ever so slightly.

"Just because I don't go for every pretty girl I see doesn't mean I'm less of a man than you are." Arstan said, "As a matter in fact, from what I've heard from some ladies it's hard to even take you for a man without your armor." He taunted back, Ser Jon reddening at Arstans remark, making a mental note not to try and win a word fight nor a sword fight.

Once Gulltown came into sight, Arstan rode forth quickly, followed closely by Ser Jon, before the lord of Gulltown could even see them approach. Riding into Gulltown on horseback Arstan quickly went to the keep, where the Lord Gerold Grafton undoubtedly was holding audience.

"Lord Arryn!" Gerold announced shocked when he saw Arstan enter his keep, the young Arryn towering over most of his guardsmen present.

"Ah, Lord Grafton, I was sent here on behalf of my brother, Lord Paramount Artys Arryn." Arstan said ever so formal.

"If I knew you were coming I would've prepared a feast for you." Lord Grafton announced, obviously trying to get into good graces with Arstan.

"That won't be necessary Gerold, I don't plan on being here long." Arstan remarked, making Lord Grafton a bit nervous. "I will be staying in one of your guest quarters, so will Ser Jon Redfort, make sure it's ready for us by nightfall."

Lord Gerold nodded, before hurrying one of his servants to go and ready the quarters. "That'll be all for now Lord, continue on your audiences." Arstan and Jon left the room, obviously making Lord Gerold very nervous.

Lord Gerold knew better than to try and stop the Lord Paramount's brother, as he knew the entire Vale was loyal to the brothers. Since the sun was already near setting, they just went to check out the harbour, while their men settled around Gulltown in tents. Arstan and Jon made their way down to the docks, not chatting about anything in particular except for the exotic traders they were seeing. Arriving at the harbour they noticed that it was very well kept, a lot of workers moving around goods into warehouses and a lot of guards on the lookout for anything suspicious. He also saw a walled off part being heavily guarded, this would be the part of the harbour where a part of the navy would be build, other than that Arstan noticed very little wrong with the harbour, he didn't even notice the two sets of eyes on him. Both children. One set belonged to a mockingbird, the other one to a spider. Leaving the harbour, and with night nearly falling, they decided to head to their quarters, passing by some brothels belonging to Petyr Baelish. Arstan wanted to go into them and just smash them to bits, but his brother insisted that he acted more lord-like on this mission so he doesn't lose the support of the Graftons.

"What should we do, My Lord?" Ser Jon asked, unsure of how Arstan was going to handle the situation.

"You'll see." Was all Arstan said before leaving to go and inspect the castle a bit before heading to bed. Arstan spent the next 2 days both monitoring the activity in the harbour and how the brothels operated here. Until he set his plan in motion on day 4.

Arstan commanded Jon to speak to the crowds, in his name, as Arstan despised talking in front of people that weren't soldiers.

"I, Ser Jon of House Redfort, speak in name of Lord Arstan of House Arryn, brother to Lord Paramount Artys Arryn, hereby ask you to turn in any corrupt septons, corrupt brothels and thieves for the reward of one single silver stag. Anybody that lies about being a person being corrupt, shall face the same punishment as the corrupt ones." Ser Jon's authoritative voice boomed over the market, most of the peasants knowing that they need to obey Arstan's commands as he is known to be ruthless, towards friends and foes alike if necessary. Arstan was surrounded by his own men in case the townspeople weren't happy about the current situation. They all watched as the peasants quickly went to the port, while Arstan watched closely. They went to every single corrupt port official they found and turned them over to Arstan, who took note of the rewards they had to distribute. Even with how ruthless Arstan might have been, he believed one simple rule, 'If a man worked for the reward, he shall always get the reward promised.' Something he learned from clearing out bandits. Once most of the brothels learned that the corrupt officials were being brought in, they shut their doors, hiding inside, waiting for the crowds to break into the doors.

While Arstan was waiting for a lot of the corrupt septons and brothel owners to get imprisoned, his men raided the homes of the officials, taking all their wealth. A lot of the brothels his men went to were destroyed once they arrived, but they took any wealth they could collect. It didn't take long for a part of the corrupt guardsmen to try their hand against the Arryns, put him down before their entire city was cleansed. But what these guardsmen didn't know is that they were walking right into a trap. The guards stormed the market, making their way to the center where Arstan directed the efforts from. However, the moment they arrived at the market, Arstan stood ready with Titan's Bite.

His own men and the loyal guardsmen led by lord Grafton himself flooded into the market, even though being severly outnumbered the corrupt men charged, they still had an element of surprise. Cutting through the guardsmen Arstan found himself without proper support, with him quickly being recognized, hoowever, they forgot that Arstan wasn't for nothing one of the best swordsmen around, cutting through several of them before capturing one. After having intel extracted out of him, Arstan learned more about the corruption than he had ever thought to know. He knew nearly all the thieves after a visit to a certain captain of the guard. Rounding up all the known thieves, they were sentenced to the wall or sentenced to exile for 10 years. The septon's were stripped of their rank as septon's and most left the city. The corrupt port officials mostly were sentenced to death, since their crimes were usually far greater than those of the thieves.

Most of the wealth they acquired was distributed to the poorest of the city, gathering a lot of support from the city, as well as from Lord Grafton, who always had an eye for keeping Gulltown as thriving as possible. After distributing the rewards to all the citizens that helped, Arstan said goodbye to Lord Grafton, who had received a letter from Artys, one he was supposed to deliver to Arstan. Opening the letter, one thing crossed Arstan's mind. 'How would Artys be doing?'


	7. Chapter 7

_A/N I'm sorry it took soooo long to get another chapter up, but New Year, the Holidays and school kept me quite busy. Anyway I hope you enjoy this new chapter and if you're up for it leave a review if you have a remark =)_

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 _The Sister were never known for their loyalty. Their towns filled with smugglers and pirates, but you couldn't deny the fact that these islands were in the perfect spot to station a fleet that could control the upper part of Westeros._

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Giving Arstan all the remaining details of what he was supposed to do at Gulltown Artys sat back down at his desk, reading through all the letters that arrived in the morning. Most of them were letters from his Lords, that gave report on how the rebuilding of the infamous Arryn fleet was going. It didn't take long before his eyes fell on one the most important letters he had ever received. A letter from King Robert Baratheon.

' _Lord Paramount Artys Arryn, I hereby require you to travel to Winterfell, where I will arrive in a two weeks, so you can swear fealty to me, King Robert I of House Baratheon.'_

Artys put the letter back down and thought for a moment, how he would manage to put it into his busy schedule. However, it didn't take long before Artys found a solution. He wanted to go to the three sisters, and convince them to join the Arryns once again, and make them into his primary fleet location. Artys summoned Ser Robar, telling him to go find his good friend Bryan Sunderland, heir to the three sisters, who was residing in The Eyrie. After both of them where in Artys' solar, Artys spoke up.

"I have gotten a royal summon from King Robert. He requires me to travel to Winterfell, to swear fealty to him. I find this the perfect opportunity to travel to the Three Sisters, convince your father to join us, making The Three Sisters the main location of our new fleet." Artys announced, Ser Robar seeming impressed while Bryan found it a marvellous idea.

"How do you come up with all this?" Ser Robar asked amazed. "I know, I know I'm brilliant ." Artys said laughingly before going to the courtyard, where he drummed up 30 veteran men at arms, 25 knights, and 45 mounted archers.

They set off that same day, venturing towards The Three Sisters, which took up about 6 days, but things went swiftly as they ran into very little trouble, until near the end of the trip, where they got ambushed by clansmen. Artys was caught off guard by them, unsure of how to handle the situation as he saw a few men fall by slingers. Even when taken by surprise, Artys was quick to regain the control of the situation, ordering his men to hide, while his knights and archers rode back, ready to charge against their footmen, since they wore no spears. His knights easily charged over the footmen, while the archers took out anybody left behind, while also taking the slingers out. He himself charged behind some of the slingers, but instead of killing them, he imprisoned them, taking them with him towards his mounted archers. Once the battle was over, he went to his prisoners so he could pass a message on to the leaders of the clans.

'Tell your leaders to come have an audience with me, or I shall make sure every single one of your hideouts will be found, slaughtered, and razed.'

However, he didn't include that his brother was already on a warpath against them, hunting them all down with fervour. Counting the remainder of men that went along with Artys, they quickly set course for The Three Sisters once again.

"We only lost 9 men there, how is that even possible in such an ambush?" Ser Robar asked confused.

"it's rather simple, these men are both trained by some of the most veteran men we have and my brother, who Is known for making bandits flee in terror." Artys said, finding Robars confusion amusing.

"But your brother does not use a bow, how could he train them then?" Artys smiled and chuckled before answering. "I'll show you once we get back."

Ser Robar found his answer cryptic, but kept his mind on the question for nearly the rest of the trip, trying to get an answer out of Artys. It didn't take long before the boats they needed to cross the sea towards the Three Sisters came in view, which was also the moment Bryan Sunderland rode front, since the men there wouldn't deny them passage when he was present.

"Who goes there?" The men asked, loyal to House Sunderland more than House Arryn.

"Lord Artys Arryn, Lord Paramount of the Vale." Artys said calmly.

"What's your business here?" They asked, right on cue Bryan appeared behind Artys, the guardsmen instantly kneeling. "milord, we're happy to see you!" One of the guardsmen exclaimed, giving Artys' party access to the boats. They left their horses behind at the harbour, but sent message ahead to White Harbour, to ready some horses in a good week. The voyage towards the Three Sisters went with ease, as the sea was calm and there were no pirates in this part of the sea.

Arriving into Sisterton, Lord Sunderland had received message that Artys Arryn was arriving, half the Vale knew the Arryn brothers had ambitious plans, so Lord Sunderland definitely wanted to hear the older one out, as it was also known the younger part most likely didn't stop by for a conversation. "Lord Arryn, Bryan!" Lord Sunderland exclaimed, hugging his brother and giving Artys a firm handshake.

"Welcome to Sisterton!" He cheered, showing Artys the harbour as they walked by. Artys however took a mental note that at the first chance he had he needed to inspect the harbour closely, even though he knew they had a very fine harbour. Artys noticed plenty of guardsmen however, which made him feel more and more certain about his plans for The Three Sisters. They arrived in the great hall, which wasn't anything to write home about, but felt comfortable and welcoming. Lord Sunderland brought Artys, Robar and his son, Bryan to his wardroom, since it was the best room to discuss matters, as they were undisturbed as long as they were in there. Artys chatted a bit at first with Triston, before starting to discuss the matters on his mind.

"Lord Sunderland, I know out of our history that your houses allegiance to my house has been shaky, but I aim to change that." Artys spoke up, definitely grabbing the attention of Triston.

"How do you plan to do that?" He asked curiously, waiting for Artys' answer.

"I need a good location for a fleet. And instead of taking your islands by force, which would displease me, and undoubtedly your son. It would please my brother. But therefore I wanted to speak with you about this matter. I offer you this, swear undying loyalty to me , and in return, you will become a very rich man."

Triston's attention was at an all time high, since he knew Arstan would be more than happy to besiege the Three Sisters, nothing personal, the young Arryn was just a bit too fond of displaying his might.

"So as I was saying. I'd like for your men, to build me a fleet, and in return, you will gain riches beyond imagining. I assume that's a fair deal, if not, I'm willing to listen to any 'normal' adjustments." Artys said, Lord Triston needing no other convincing before shaking Artys' hand and sealing the deal.

They discussed some more needed trade deals like the delivery of enough wood and metal to build the ships, but they were quickly straightened out. "Tomorrow, we'll have a feast in your honour, as I will urge the Lord of Longsister, Sweetsister, and Littlesister to come to the feast, as we have very important things to discuss, that said, they should already be on their way." Triston announced, leaving the war room.

Artys left Bryan at the keep, to talk with his father, while he and Robar went to inspect the harbour. Artys thought about bringing a small detail of guards but Triston insisted that the harbour's were guarded well enough so it wouldn't be necessary. Upon leaving the keep the news of the allegiance to the Arryns quickly spread all over town, as many of the commoners and traders greeted Artys with "milord." Which normally wouldn't be seen. Artys had Robar look out for anything suspicious while he took a look at the wharf, noticing plenty of stationed guardsmen with even more patrols. As he looked at the wharfs he noticed a warship being built, so of course he went closer to inspect.

"Milord." A man taking notes greeted Artys. "I assume you're here to check on the warship?" He asked, Artys nodded. "It's going along as planned, we have about 3/4th of the work done." The man said, while Artys just studied the ship.

"How long have you been building this ship?" Artys asked, the man looking at the notes, before looking at the stance of the sun.

"Around the morning, took a break for lunch a few hours ago." Artys' mouth nearly fell open, surprised at the quick work of the Sistermen. "So you're telling me, you started building it at the morning and it's done before nightfall?" While the man just nodded. Artys seemed to think about it. "What about the quality of the ship?" The man looked at his notes before showing Artys them. "It's made out of oak wood, which isn't that good but we had a tight budget, while it is extra supported by iron supports." 'The quality of these ships while also being the fastest built ships I've ever seen.' Artys thought, before saying goodbye to the man, and continuing to inspect. He asked many more stewards like the one he first spoke to how the shipbuilding was going and which materials he used before returning to the keep, meeting up with Bryan and taking notes in his logbook.

The next morning Artys woke up at dawn, ready to go and see how the harbour was going at this hour, before being stopped by Lord Borrell, Longthorpe and Torrent. Artys said greeted to the Lords, who seemed unimpressed by the young Lord.

"Ah, I wasn't informed that you would be arriving." Artys said in surprise, which the Lords seemed to find normal. "Well, I'm Lord Artys Arryn, Lord Paramount of the Vale, Son of Jon Arryn and Lysa Arryn." Artys greeted and bowed towards the Lord, who still seemed unimpressed and started laughing at him, all except Lord Borrell.

"We have no use for formalities here, boy." Lord Torrent smirked.

"Let's take this conversation somewhere more private." Artys stated calmly, the Lords surprised the remark had no effect on him. Following Artys into Lord Sunderland's war room, Artys sat down at the head of the desk, as Triston was summoned into the chamber by Ser Robar.

"Ah, I see you guys finally arrived, took your damn time." Triston said, the other Lords listening to Lord Triston.

"Now listen to what Lord Arryn has to say, or I'm sure you'll regret it." He said sternly, making the Lords listening intently.

"I'll keep this as short as I said it to Lord Sunderland here." Artys started, "I've made a deal with him, that he'll swear loyalty to me and my house, and I suggest you follow suit." Artys said with a voice carrying authority.

"Why would we do that?" Lord Longthorpe asked. "Mixing ourselves in the affairs of the seven kingdom's only brought us misery." He added, losing his temper.

"I know." Artys said, receiving looks of confusion from the Lords. "You think I don't know how the Kings of Old fought over you. How you joined the Vale simply to just escape The Starks? You think times are still like that? War might lurking around the corner, but the Vale has never asked much of you. Even now, I stand here and ask for you to join me in the wars to come, and build me a fleet, while I could also just send my brother here and you lose your land and kin for boats?"

The lords seemed to shrink, all except Triston, even if he knew Artys and Arstan wouldn't hesitate to do it if they needed to. "I stand here, risk my life coming here with a small escort, to ask you your allegiance, and you think you can threaten me? You think I don't know what I'm talking about? If you want a fight just tell me. But mark my words, you will regret it from this day until your last." Artys spoke up, his voice booming across the room.

"You're right my Lord." Lord Godric Borrell said, kneeling in front of Artys, "I pledge my life and honor to you, Lord Artys of House Arryn." Borrell said, raising up again to receive a handshake of Artys, who didn't seem fazed at all by the webbing between his fingers. The two other lords quickly followed suit, before taking their seat again.

"Now, you were smart enough to join the fold, I will also do my job as Lord Paramount and listen to your problems." Artys stated calmly.

"Well, I have a bit of a problem with production." Lord Borrell admitted. "We don't quite have that many people willing to work hard for our harbour, we think it's an issue with payment, since we don't have that much trade going on."

Artys seemed to think for a moment. "Make trade routes with the free cities. They pay good for even the most common goods around. They should net you a good income, along with a loan I will give you." Lord Borrell certainly was surprised at how Artys proposed solutions to most of his problems in a matter of mere minutes. The rest of the morning was spent listening to the other problems and fining solutions as well.

By the time their conversation was done they gathered in the dining room for lunch, which they quickly ate, to go and attend some business they had in the capital, while Artys strolled around the harbour, which was currently bustling with people. All of the ships he saw being built yesterday were currently in the sea, and were now working on the Arryn fleet, which was already going along just fine. Yesterday one of the stewards he talked to would get him aboard one of the freshly built Warships, to allow him to inspect it up close, see how good the ship was up close. Boarding the ship together with Robar and the steward, he immediately noticed how sturdy the ship felt.

"Is this just a standard ship?" Artys asked, wondering if it was specially built or great quality. "This ship is of standard quality." The steward said, looking at his book. Artys took mental note of this, also to make some of his flagships out of exceptional wood, since it will most likely be one of the best ships to ever sail the narrow sea. After inspecting most of the ships, including the quarters for his soldiers and cargo hold, he got off the ship again, leaving for the keep.

As he entered the keep, he saw the great hall being prepped for the feast, with Triston monitoring closely, as he wanted to make sure it was up to 'Vale Standards' as he called it. Artys spent the rest of the day mapping out the details of their journey with Robar, before the feast started. Arriving at the feast, a bit later than the feast started, most people instantly bowed before the young Lord. 'Milord' were a lot of mutters Artys heard. Once he was seated the feast began again.

"Ah Lord Arryn. Good you could make it." Triston announced cheerfully, worried Artys wouldn't come. "I would never dare to skip a feast when I was in the area." Artys replied, seeing some of the lords roll their eyes. It didn't take long before nearly all food was being served and eaten, and many men and lords alike got drunk. Artys wasn't one to get drunk, or atleast not a lot. He had a few times he would get drunk, but not during feasts. He thought it was disrespectful, unlike his brother, who decided being drunk was more fun than being sober sometimes. Once the feast neared its end Artys said goodbye to the lords and left for his chambers, where he would spend his last night and then depart for White Harbor, before going to Winterfell.

Artys awoke at dawn, readying Ser Robar and Himself to leave for White Harbor, taking one of the ships he had gotten from Triston as a departing gift. They quickly left for the harbor, needing to make haste towards Winterfell, as the King would undoubtedly arrive soon. The voyage towards White Harbor only took a few days, and went by rather quick, since the sea was rather calm. Artys didn't like the sea being so calm, he called it "The Calm Before The Storm." Untrustful of the still sea. Once the harbour was in sight, Artys couldn't help but notice the Seal Rock, a massive stone crowned with a ringfort, fortified with Crossbowmen, Scorpions and Spitfires. The men stood at attention on the passing ship, but saw the Arryn banners and allowed it to pass, notifying Lord Manderly in the process.

Arriving in the harbor, Lord Wyman Manderly sent for a party to accompany the young Arryn to New Keep, the seat of House Manderly. "Lord Arryn, to what do I own this pleasure?" Lord Manderly called as we entered the great hall.

"We're here passing for Winterfell, by the King's summon." Artys answered, Lord Manderly smiled.

Lord Manderly and Artys chatted for a bit, before Artys spoke up. "You know I can see right through you with your stupid questions, Lord Manderly?" Artys said with a tone full of ice. "The eyes always reveal a man's true intentions. I'm here to pass through nothing more."

Lord Manderly shrunk. "I will however, be willing to negotiate a trade deal, for more wood and iron." Lord Manderly nodded, "That can be arranged, My Lord."

They settled on a deal, wood and iron shipped to The Three Sisters, which confused Lord Manderly since it wasn't yet known of their allegiance to House Arryn. The room went cold quickly as the conversation stalled, because of Artys' coldness, but it soon became warm again, as the two ladies entered the Great Hall. "Might I introduce my granddaughters, Wylla and Wyndafryd Manderly. They made Artys' jaw drop, as he quickly introduced himself and his companions. They too, chatted with Artys a bit before he excused himself, and prepared to leave for Winterfell, thinking back about those lovely ladies.


	8. Chapter 8

_It is well known that after several encounters with the more mature Artys, the Stark were surprised that a once rash young boy, had now matured into a patient respectful lord._

* * *

The trip for Winterfell went without any issues, as Artys quickly saw Winterfell's massive curtain wall dooming up before him. Strolling through the main gate onwards to the courtyard, he quickly saw Robb, Rickon and Bran, all running towards Artys, happy to see him.

"I must have made a wrong turn.." Artys said, Robb quickly showing signs of confusion.

"What do you mean, Arryn."

Artys laughed, getting off his horse. "Yeah, the three of you look more like Tully's than Starks."

The Starks started laughing as he saw Sansa, Arya, Jon and Eddard walking towards him, Sansa was as excited as ever to see Artys while Jon seemed just as excited as Arya was, until Arya saw Arstan didn't accompany him. The Starks all greeted him very warmly, even Catelyn, who seemed to sometimes dislike both the Arryns for their friendship with Jon.

"Artys, I wasn't aware of your arrival, if I was I would be sure to throw you a feast." Eddard said apologetic,

"There's no need for festivities for my arrival, especially with the King's imminent arrival, I'm sure your servants already have enough on their plate." Artys said as humble as ever in the presence of another Lord.

Lord Eddard nodded, before returning to his duties. Once Ned left, the Stark children, even Jon, showed off their newly gotten wolves.

"What are their names?" 'Grey Wind, Shaggydog, Nymeria, Lady and Ghost.' They quickly announced proudly, all except Bran, who still hasn't named his wolf.

"I'm sure you'll find a good name." Artys said, ruffling Bran's hair.

It didn't take long before Artys noticed a certain sadness in Arya, who was being uncharacteristically silent.

"What's wrong, little knight?" Artys quickly asked, leveling himself with Arya.

"Where's Arstan?" She asked, her eyes hopeful.

"He couldn't make it." Artys quickly answered, to which Arya just seemed to sadden. "You know festivities aren't a thing for him little knight." Arya nodded.

"They aren't mine either, but I still need to attend."

Artys smiled at this. "That's because even if you are a little knight, your family needs to you to be a young lady." Arya smiled, "They do want me to become a little lady, but I don't want to." Arya complained, as stubborn as a Stark can be.

"I'm sure it'll work out for you." Artys said, smiling softly at Arya while ruffling her hair.

It was at that moment that Artys left Arya, arriving into the great hall of Winterfell, seeing Catelyn and Ned there. "Artys, I'm very sorry about your father." Catelyn said, "It must be devastating for you." She added graciously.

"I thank you. I'm sure you it is harder for you though, Lord Stark." Artys said, bowing a bit while saying it. "Still, nothing is harder than losing a father, I know how hard it can be." Ned said grimly.

"I must say, seeing my nieces and nephews sure did help cheer me up." Artys said, getting a smile out of Catelyn and a chuckle out of Ned. "I must thank you for the hospitality already, I have no doubt it will surely be as amazing as ever." Both Catelyn and Ned looked starstruck by this version of Artys, since the last time they saw him he was 3 years younger and a lot wilder, not this calm and flattering young lord they saw now.

"Thank you, Lord Arryn." Ned said awkwardly, bowing before Lord Artys. "I must take my leave however, and go to my chambers to rest a bit, the trip was rather long." Artys said, excusing himself before Catelyn and Ned.

"He surely got more manners." Catelyn joked, thinking Artys wouldn't hear it. "I'm sure you will like my manners more now, Lady Stark!" Artys replied loudly, making sure Catelyn heard it.

Arriving in front of his quarters he noticed a few servants running around in the halls, making sure the bedchambers were ready for the King. Once he walked into the chambers he saw Ser Robar sitting in chair, waiting for his Lord to appear.

"So, how did your little reunion go?" Robar asked, teasing Artys a bit.

"It went well, thank the gods my father isn't around anymore, for he actually considered marrying me off to Sansa." He complained.

"Why wouldn't you want that Artys? A betrothal between two great houses is nearly a custom." Robar asked.

"She's nothing but an airhead. She sees me and becomes excited! For what reason? She barely knows me, she just likes me because I'm a knight." Artys complained loudly.

"You might want to be quiet, don't want any of the Stark household to hear." Robar said, not louder than a whisper. This seemed to calm Artys down as he took a deep breath, to regain his composure. "I'm sorry for that." Artys quickly said, to which Robar just chuckled.

"I guess I should go and talk a bit more with Lord Stark" Artys quickly went back to the great hall, where he saw Ned sit, obviously thinking, peering into the nearly empty great hall.

"Lord Stark?" Artys asked, getting Eddard out of his trance. "Oh, Artys." Ned said, dumbfounded, gesturing Artys to sit down.

"Might I ask, were you with your father in his last moments?" Ned asked, Artys nodded. "I visited him 2 days before he died, he seemed as healthy as ever." Ned looked grim. "Was his dead quick?" Artys also looked grim, nodding again. "He didn't suffer for long, but fell ill out of nowhere."

A few servants walked in, quieting the conversation. When they left, they quickly resumed talking.

"What's Robert coming here for?" Artys asked, "He ordered me to come to swear fealty." He continued. Ned shook his head.

"He didn't say, just that he was arriving soon. I still remember the times me and Robert ran around the Eyrie. Those were some days." Ned sighed, "Life wasn't as complicated as it is now. I never asked to become Lord Parmount, all because Rhaegar ran off with Lyanna." Ned sighed again.

"Never did get the full story on that, but I don't need to know it, as it's not my business." Artys smiled.

"I'm sure Robert has a good reason for coming here however. Just don't like all the festivities." Ned said, sighing again as even more servants came in, interrupting the conversation again. "Artys, if you ever need my help, us Starks will be there for you. The entire north will be. Winter is coming." Ned said, looking up at Artys with the stern face of 'Lord Eddard Stark.

"I thank you for this, Lord Stark. I'm sure my father's passing was also hard for you, since he was your mentor after all. I know it didn't do much good for Robert. My father practically held the realm together. And my brother couldn't even come to court, as he probably would try and kill any Lannister on sight, since he rather dislikes their 'confident' behaviour." Artys scoffed as Catelyn walked in. "I must be excused however, might I ask where to find you Maester?"

Ned told him he would be teaching Bran near the courtyard, so that's where Artys headed off to. As he neared the courtyard, he walked past Sansa and Veyne Pool. He didn't hear much about their conversation but picked up most things like "His good looks." Or "His icy blue eyes." Which Artys would find flattering, if it didn't come out of Sansa her mouth. Artys quickly found Maester Luwin in the courtyard, and asked him if he could send a message to the Eyrie, informing his council of his arrival in Winterfell.

"What would you like included?" Maester Luwin asked.

"Tell them, that I've safely arrived in Winterfell and that 'The High 3 Will Rise."

Maester Luwin looked confused for a moment, wondering what Artys meant with that, but having no clue. "Thank you, Maester." Artys added, before leaving to go and see to his men, making sure they were well fed and housed, but while doing so he ran into Robb and Theon.

"Lord Arryn." Robb joked, while Theon jokingly bowed.

"Ah, little lord Stark and Greystark." Artys joked, since even though Robb was already tall, Artys still towered over him, and since Theon was a Greyjoy, raised a Stark.

"I would find a comeback for that, but don't want to anger the Lord paramount do we." Theon joked, receiving a smile from Robb and a scoff from Artys.

"Even if you would find a comeback, doubt it's half as good as you claim to be." Robb laughed at this, while Theon just smiled, faking his hurt.

"Still got big words I see." Theon said, to which Artys laughed.

"Yeah, if only you were as big as your words." Theon gave up after that remark, being outsmarted by Artys in their word duel.

"So Artys, how are things in the Vale?" Robb asked, "They're doing fine, Arstan's currently running down whole clans of bandits while I'm here sitting on my arse because of the King." Arstan said, receiving a smile from Robb.

"Arstan doing what he does best it seems, he always did have a thing for killing things he didn't like." Robb joked.

"Yeah I'm surprised the Lannisters aren't extinct just yet." Artys joked, getting laughs from both Robb and Theon.

"You've been in King's Landing right?" Robb asked.

"Yes, why?" Artys asked, "I'm sort of wondering how the royal family looks." Robb confessed, looking rather embarrassed.

"They're all blonde, except the King. Cersei looks like a bitch and acts like one, Tommen and Myrcella are friendly, with Tommen a bit on the fat side of thins. And Joffrey looks like an everyday prince, but don't be fooled, Joffrey is nothing but a vile bastard." Artys spat, "Just try and steer clear as much as possible of Joffrey, the queen does everything to protect him, and he has The Hound running after him, like an actual dog."

Robb and Theon nodded, understanding what Artys meant. Theon tried to joke again, but was quickly shut down by Artys again, to which Artys bowed, and excused himself, since he had other manners to attend. After checking up on his men Artys went back to his own bedchambers and rested till the morrow, when the King arrived.

Artys was lined up with his men next to the Starks. After addressing the Starks Robert greeted him, but in Robert's own way. He enveloped him in a bear hug, nearly raising Artys of the ground, for even with him being fat, the king wasn't a weak man. Artys quickly also took note of Cersei, who didn't even bother to acknowledge Artys, which got Artys thinking about Arstan, who sadly couldn't be here, for he would be happy to exchange some words with the queen.

Or rather at the Eyrie, because of how high it was, Arstan would've loved to 'talk' to the queen there. If he decided to throw the queen out of say, a window, he wouldn't be 'fast' enough to stop him. Tyrion did greet Artys, which Artys found nice, since he did think Tyrion made a fine companion. Myrcella and Tommen also said hello, but Joffrey didn't which Artys didn't mind, for even at such a young age, he already disliked the crownprince more than he should.

Artys stood quietly as Robert talked with some of the Starks, and most importantly Ned. It didn't take long before Artys put together as to why Robert would come North, as it certainly wasn't his scene. When Robert and Ned entered WInterfells crypt, Artys knew exactly what Robert was planning. Ned would become hand of the king. Since Winterfell just became one mess of action now, and Artys didn't feel like taking part in it, he just sat on a windowledge, looking at the courtyard. Artys was studying how Winterfell their men at arms and guards were training, until he got interrupted by Jon Snow.

"Lord Arryn." Jon addressed him, to which Artys raised one of his eyebrow.

"Why are you calling me Lord Arryn?" He asked, since Jon usually just called him Artys.

"I'm sorry, but Lady Stark told me not to disturb you, as she doesn't want to offend the King." Jon his eyes were on the floor the entire time.

"Jon, stop looking at the floor and look at me. And stop calling me Lord Arryn." Artys shot back, getting Jon to look up at him. "You think that because I'm a Lord now you can't talk to me, nor talk to me because your 'mother' said so? Just talk to me, Snow." Artys smiled, as Jon seemed to become less and less shy.

"I'm sorry Artys but I just wondered, do you think you can help me with something?" Artys nodded and Jon led the way, all the way to his chambers. The way there was wordless, until he took a small sword, about as long as a shorts word and as thin as a… needle.

"Where did you get this?" Artys asked, wielding the sword.

"The smith here made it for me, as a present, but I wasn't sure it would actually hold out." Jon admitted.

"For who is it? Wait, let me guess, Arya?" Jon smiled and nodded, seemingly surprised Artys managed to find it out so quickly. "I think it is strong enough to fight with, but it seems rather small, which does fit Arya nicely. You surely do have a nice smith though. If I didn't have Talon I would visit him myself." Jon looked confused.

"Talon? Is that the name of your sword?" Artys nodded and took the sword out of its scabbard. "Valyrian steel…" Jon muttered, looking in awe at the sword. "May I hold it?" Artys handed over the sword, watching Jon closely.

"I've only ever seen my father's sword, Ice, it's much bigger than this." Artys smiled, watching Jon closely so he doesn't cut himself. They stayed like this, chatting for a while before Artys left, needing to get ready for the feast.

Being seated at the feast near Robb was one of the only good things about the feast. The feast was extremely uneventful as Jon had to sit somewhere else because it might be an insult the royal family. The food was good and the company was great, but the feast itself was boring. Artys managed to get a good conversation in with Ben Stark, stories about beyond the wall. The most annoying part however, was Joffrey. He continued to brag about everything, even false things, which was the main cause of Artys going to bed right when the feast was done.

* * *

The next day most of the men were gathered in the courtyard. There were 3 parties aligned, The Stark party, which was ofcourse the biggest of the 3, at the head stood Robb and Theon. The Lannister party was the second biggest, led by Prince Joffrey. The Arryn party was obviously the smallest, but stood next to the Stark party, making it less obvious. The colors the men wore was very clear. Grey for Stark, Red for Lannister, Blue for Arryn.

Blue and Grey blended together slighty, while Red stood alone. Each and every men was watching Bran and Tommen spar, wearing so much padding they wouldn't even feel being hit. His mentor, Lord Royce, never let Artys wear padding, since his father wanted Artys to be able to feel the sting. Once Bran won, which got many cheers out of both the blues but mostly the greys.

"Maybe now the crownprince should spar with somebody." The master-at-arms, Rory Cassel announced. Joffrey scoffed.

"I think Artys should go first." The Arryn soldiers cheered, and so did the Stark soldiers, encouraging Robb to fight, the loudest of his supporters, Theon, was of course cheering, eardeafening if you were close to him.

Robb and Artys went at it, while Bran and Tommen looked intently at the two men sparring. Robb quickly tried to get the upper hand on Artys, but was quickly shut down by a parry. Robb staggered a bit before instantly resuming his assault, causing Artys to lose his balance. Artys fell, but didn't lose this fight just yet. Robb gave Artys some room to stand up, before clashing blades with him. It seemed Robb was getting the upper hand until Artys did a simple flick of his wrist, and caught Robb's arm. The northmen stopped their cheering, while the Valemen only got louder. Robb dropped his sword, and tackled Artys, deciding he wanted to fight more. But as before, Robb didn't do a whole lot, as Artys got up fom the tackle and threw sand in Robb's eyes, and made Robb signal defeat. "Dirty tactics, but won a fight." Robb laughed.

"Surely you would've won if Artys didn't cheat." Joffrey said. The Lannister men erupted in laughter, as Joffrey approached the training yard. "Why would you not keep to your houses words? As high as honor? Didn't quite see that much honor." Joffrey now stood in front of Artys, which surely was a mistake.

"What are you talking about, bastard?" Artys scoffed, as Joffrey seemed to grow mad. Artys charged at Joffrey, knocking him onto the ground and punching him repeatedly. Robar threw Artys Talon, as he got off Joffrey, ready to meet in the clash of steel that was coming to the courtyard. Artys knocked Joffrey unconscious, as Robar clashed blades with the Hound while the Household of Arryn and Stark drew their blades, clashing with the Lannisters, while the Starks tried to break the fight up, as much as they wanted to join in against the Lannisters. The fighting kept on, until a single sentence rang across the courtyard. "GET ME MY WARHAMMER IF THIS FIGHT KEEPS ON!" King Robert's voice rang, making all the men stop and look over, and of course, kneel.

* * *

"How could you let this happen, Artys?" Ned asked as Artys walked into the great hall, on orders of Robert.

"Joffrey started it. He was insulting House Arryn." Artys defended. "I guess we should be lucky Arstan is out in the Vale, or there would be a new crownprince."

Robert laughed. "I will pardon you, I like a man that can stand up to his king, even if it's only his future one. You're pardoned, but don't let this happen again." Robert said, suddenly sterner.

"I will, your grace. I beg for your apology, Lord Eddard, I never meant for this to happen." With that Artys left the great hall, gathering his men and leaving for the Vale. Deciding he had enough of this Mummer's Fare. He quickly said goodbye to Robb and Jon, still evading Sansa, but also saying goodbye to the younger part of the Stark family.

* * *

William Barrows (Pov)

Finally settling into the Eyrie, Will mostly just roamed around the castle and trained, or took jobs scouting and finding new recruits. Most recently the Waynwood lands, where he found a few good recruits. The thing that mostly kept will busy however was thinking about why he took up the young Lord his offer, since he practically always declined service. Maybe it was simply just the need to do something, or maybe a need to serve. He had intended on going to the North, afterwards touring Essos, but something just kept him here.

It certainly wasn't Lady Lysa, who even since arriving here did nothing but pester Will about where Artys and Arstan where. Will wondered if she actually cared for her two eldest sons, but he didn't feel like talking to her to find it out. The second morning she was here however, was the worst. Will woke up before the sun had even risen, but yet she was also awake, trying to enter Artys' quarters, but being denied on strict orders of Artys and his commander of the guard. So of course, the next logical thing for Lysa to do was turn to Will, trying to get information on where they were. He denied every effort she made to find the information, but she still kept trying. She seemed to become even madder, if it was possible, when he denied to share whatever he knew. Still, Lysa kept on, the answers Will gave her kept becoming shorter and shorter, which was certainly why he thanked the old gods and the new when Lord Royce arrived, Artys' regent.

Him and his retinue seemed to calm Lysa. Lord Royce certainly was a smart man, who shared many tales about Artys. "Artys always was a quiet, even shy boy. He kept eavesdropping on me which gave him a lot of information about the realm, and the things that happened in the Vale. Even with those good traits, Arstan wasn't the only one who is ruthless. While it didn't show with Artys, he kept it well hidden. But when you watch closely, the ruthlessness is always there."

The last point frightened Will a bit, but not enough to back down. He knew the Valemen were closely like the northmen in attitude, but of course, everywhere are rotten apples. After a few days after Lord Royce arrived, Will managed to relax again, dreaming off to his little keep he was going to get, where he'd set up his base of operations.

* * *

A/n: Hope you like this chapter, the William pov is a bit of a test but his character arc will certainly be fleshed out in the next few chapters, Also I'm planning for 1 short chapter following this one, with some info about age etc. After that were going to jump ahead to the beginning of the war of the five kings to get things moving along.

I sincerely hope you like it and please review, it helps a lot :)

Dawnofdorne


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